The Top 5 Reasons You Should Use WordPress in 2013

Initially, the question was curious to me. Why not WordPress? Sure sometimes plugins conflict with other plugins, but there are over 26,000 plugins now, so it’s bound to happen. Beyond that, I couldn’t drum up a reason not to use WordPress.

Even before I found out that WordPress powers nearly 20% of the top 10million websites or that it dominates the CMS market with a whopping 60% share, I always just liked it. It was smooth, accessible, extendable, secure, and it just felt right.

Now, with a few years of seasoning, I present to you my state-of-the-art reasons why I choose WordPress.

1) It’s Simple

The WordPress CMS is built on a simple Admin UI (which is getting a fresh new update soon!) that helps me easily manage all of my blog posts, users, and the plugins that support my sites. Everything is organized nicely and I can find what I’m looking for easily! The biggest pet peeve I have is when a platform’s options are organized all wrong and I can’t find what I need so WordPress is the perfect choice because everything fits and I can manually customize it if I’m in the mood.

2) It’s Open Source

For those of us who are more tech-savvy, open source programs are the coolest! Having access to the all the code that makes a site whir and being able to modify it so completely that it won’t resemble the original is like a being a kid in a candy shop. It’s well documented, too, so I don’t worry about digging through comment-less php files and sparse Codex entries. In fact, there may be too much documentation (but is there really such a thing?).

3) It’s Extendable

WordPress is not limited to itself. Plugins and Themes are massive adaptations to the WordPress core and really help create the coolest functionality & design you could imagine. I love that I can take the robust platform and transform it into a super-mega site that nobody believes is built on WordPress (mostly because it doesn’t look like the 2011 theme). Being able to modify your site without a drop of code is a beautiful luxury you might not be able to appreciate on other CMS’s.

4) Its Community

The best part about the WordPress community is that it is an actual community. Through events, meetups, WordCamps, conferences, and hackathons, the people of WordPress actuallycome together to celebrate, create, and just have fun! Anyone can tell you that such a diverse and intelligent community that thrives on innovation and demands the highest quality work is not only a worthwhile community to join, but is also an incredible resource of passionate support that is simply without competition. These people are good people and all they want to do is help (a most glorious cause)!

5) It’s Free

No developer license, no yearly subscriptions, no registration fees, no download costs, and no activation fees: it’s all free! The core tenant of WordPress is to “democratize the web” so they licensed everything under the General Public License (GPL) so that everyone could share. For any fresh startup, weekend blogger, or struggling developer, this costless system is the answer to bootstrapping yourself a new website. I love WordPress because it is completely invested in it’s Open Source policy and is genuinely interested in creating a better web experience for everyone.

I Love WordPress & So Should You

I can come up with dozens of other reasons for why WordPress is the choice for me, but I’m not trying to convince myself to use WordPress. The best advice I have for anyone interested in starting a blog or beginning to code is to try it out! It’s totally free and I’m 100% confident that you’ll find the same passion for WordPress that I have.